Posted by Wendy on January 06, 19100 at 10:58:08:
In Reply to: work from home posted by Gary Everett on January 06, 19100 at 08:25:40:
I can totally relate to where you're coming from, because I'm the same way. I have a B.A. in English, and I spent four years as an Admin Assistant. After my daughter was born, I made the decision to be a stay-at-home mom, but I decided that I wanted to work from home as well. Since my interests and talents are in Administrative work, I started a home-based office service.
It was really hard for me to find clients. My first obstacle was that I knew what my talents were, but I had a hard time convincing others. I dislike cold calling, and my mailings were completely ineffective. My second obstacle was that I was new to the area. I couldn't get my business name into the community, because I just didn't have any friends or former colleagues in this area. The one thing I had going for me was the desire to do this kind of work.
I started looking in the newspaper Help Wanted ads, and I responded to EVERY job offering that needed administrative help. I was finally hired on a part-time contractual basis, and I am still - over a year later - working for that same client. I have made such a good impression on my client, in fact, that he has assured me, when we finish this project, he will either hire me for something else or refer me to his friends and colleagues.
I suggest that you pinpoint your skill set and start looking for people to hire you. A really good place to start is your local classified ads. In addition, there are a few internet sites that list work at home jobs - not opportunities, but REAL jobs. Workaholicsforhire.com is one, www.tjobs.com is another, but be careful, because sometimes (at least in my case), a company from out-of-state will hire you, and then fail to pay you. Finally, look through the online job sites. Sometimes, depending on the type of work you can and will do, you will find real jobs to do from home. Finally, contact the HR departments of some of the companies in your area. Ask them if they hire temp personnel for administrative work. Illustrate the fact that you are 1)capable of doing the job and 2)properly equipped. Then, leave your name and resume.
If you are really committed to working from home, you can make a living being an administrative assistant, but you have to do some networking first. If no one knows who you are, no one is going to hire you.